Common Ground
by Blue Lilys
Summary: After Draco accepts the Dark Mark, he realises that he is on the wrong side of the war, and changes sides. After Dumbledore places him at Grimmauld Place, Draco finds that he is going to be living alongside Harry Potter for the remainder of the summer. Will the pair remain schoolyard enemies, or will they finally find some common ground?
1. Chapter 1: Nightmares

_A figure emerged from the darkness, wand in one hand, a bundle of blankets in the other._

_A bone-chilling voice rung out, and pierced the silence of the night. "Kill the spare."_

_Wormtail raised his wand and spoke the words of the deadly curse. Cedric fell to the ground. Dead._

Harry Potter shot up in bed, visibly shaking and drenched in sweat, his pleas cut short. He held his breath and listened for any noise in the otherwise silent house, praying to every known deity that he hadn't woken his uncle. No one answered his prayers.

The next thing he knew, the locks on his door clicked out of place, and Harry paled even further as the large silhouette of his uncle Vernon stood towering in the doorway. The large whale of a man, stomped over to where his nephew sat and slapped him hard across the face, not caring that his young charge had just relived one of the most terrifying ordeals of his life, before storming back out of the room and slamming the door shut behind him.

Harry didn't know how long he sat there, pale and shaking, hot tears slowly cascading down his face, but before he knew it the sun had risen, signalling the start of another miserably normal day at 4 Privet Drive.

He quickly dressed and began to tidy his already immaculate room. He had had spent most of his time this summer in his room, withdrawn and somewhat depressed. His life was changing so rapidly and frequently, that Harry didn't know what was coming next. He felt as if he was always one step behind in the nightmare that he liked to call, _'his life'._ His depression from the traumatising events of the last school year was not helped by the fact that his friends had not once written to him. Well, they had, but anything they said was just standoffish and formal. Too formal in Harry's opinion, for three friends that had been practically inseparable for the past four years. They were a team, the golden trio, and yet his closest companions had distanced themselves from him. He just didn't understand.

Harry, as normal, spent the rest of the day in his room, either tiding, crying, or just staring blankly at the wall. Only when the sun had gone down, taking another day with it, did Harry decide to try and rest. He laid down onto his pillow and fell into an uneasy sleep.

"_Get the stone!" a ghostly voice hissed, as Quirrell flew at an eleven year old Harry, a demonic glint in his eye._

_A basilisk slithered towards Harry, lunging for him, baring its large, sharp teeth. "Parseltongue won't save you now Potter!" a voice spat._

_A cloaked figure appeared in front of Harry's face. The foul creature caused a heart wrenching scream to ring in his ears, as he fell from his broom._

Harry was woken from his slumber by voices from the other side of his door. The talking was accompanied by a loud bang, as if someone had just knocked into something. Harry distinctly heard someone with a familiar gruff voice say, "For god sake, Tonks!"

Harry shot out of bed and fumbled in around the darkness for his wand, preparing himself to confront his mystery intruders. As he stood by the door, listening intently, he heard a female whisper, "Very clean these muggles. It's unnatural."

Harry held his wand out in front of him and stood in a defensive position as his door slowly creaked open. To his surprise, the people who he saw standing there were not death eaters, but were in fact some aurors, Alastor Moody among them. After introductions and after they'd explained that they were here to transport him to headquarters, Harry grabbed his stuff and walked out the door, happily leaving his relatives home behind.


	2. Chapter 2: Friends Reunited

When Harry arrived at Headquarters, he was ushered upstairs by Mrs Weasley, much to his disappointment. He was absolutely desperate to see his godfather, Sirius, but the maternal Weasley insisted that Harry wait until after the meeting. Locating the door that Mrs Weasley had directed him to, Harry opened it, only to be unexpectedly jumped on by Hermione, who was hugging him so tight that it was a miracle that he could still breathe.

"Harry, it so good to see you!" she exclaimed, still not releasing him from her death grip.

It was only when she pulled back that Harry noticed the presence of another in the room. Ron stood over by the window, smirking at the assaulted expression that played on Harry's face.

"Alright mate," he greeted.

Harry simply nodded before walking over to a chair and falling exhaustedly into it, not noticing the worried glances exchanged between his friends. "Harry, are you alright?" Hermione asked gently, eyeing him with concern.

Something in Harry snapped. He leapt out of his seat and began a loud, angry rant at his unsuspecting friends. "No, I'm not alright actually! My summer has been hell! So how come I have to stay at the Dursleys' while you two get to join in everything that's going on here?" said Harry, the words tumbling over one another in a rush, his voice growing louder with every word. "How come you two are allowed to know everything that's going on?"

"We're not" Ron interrupted. "Mum won't let us near the meetings; she says we're too young-"

"SO YOU HAVEN'T BEEN IN THE MEETINGS, BIG DEAL! YOU'VE STILL BEEN HERE, HAVEN'T YOU? YOU'VE STILL BEEN TOGETHER! ME, I'VE BEEN STUCK AT THE DURSLEYS' FOR A MONTH! AND I'VE HANDLED MORE THAN YOU TWO'VE EVER MANAGED - WHO SAVED THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE? WHO GOT RID OF RIDDLE? WHO SAVED BOTH YOUR SKINS FROM THE DEMENTORS?"

Every bitter and resentful thought Harry had had in the past month was pouring out of him: his frustration at the lack of news, the hurt that they had all been together without him: All the feelings he was half-ashamed of finally burst their boundaries.

"WHO HAD TO GET PAST DRAGONS AND SPHINXES AND EVERY OTHER FOUL THING LAST YEAR? WHO SAW HIM COME BACK? WHO HAD TO ESCAPE FROM HIM? ME!"

Ron was standing there with his mouth half-open, clearly stunned and at a loss for anything to say, whilst Hermione looked on the verge of tears.

"BUT WHY SHOULD I KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON? WHY SHOULD ANYONE BOTHER TO TELL ME WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING?"

"Harry, we wanted to tell you, we really did-" Hermione began.

"CAN'T'VE WANTED TO THAT MUCH, CAN YOU, OR YOU'D HAVE SENT ME AN OWL!"

"Well, Dumbledore asked us not to," Hermione reasoned, but her explanations went unacknowledged by Harry, who continued shouting.

"FOUR WEEKS I'VE BEEN STUCK IN PRIVET DRIVE, NICKING PAPERS OUT OF BINS TO TRY AND FIND OUT WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON-"

"We wanted to-"

"I SUPPOSE YOU'VE BEEN HAVING A REAL LAUGH, HAVEN'T YOU, ALL HOLED UP HERE TOGETHER-"

"No, honest-"

"Harry, we're really sorry!' said Hermione desperately, her eyes now sparkling with tears. 'You're absolutely right, Harry- I'd be furious if it was me!"

Harry glared at her, breathing deeply. He abruptly turned away from them, walking out of the room and slamming the door behind him.

Harry didn't really know where he was going. All he knew was that he had to be on his own for a while. He couldn't believe that his friends of four years had tried to justify their actions. Maybe he was being unreasonable; he just didn't know anymore. Harry hadn't missed it when Hermione said that Dumbledore was behind the lack of letters. He refused to believe that his much trusted mentor would attempt to isolate him, especially after the events of the triwizard tournament. It wasn't that he thought Hermione was lying or anything, but he just couldn't believe it. He felt torn.

Harry eventually found himself in an empty room, with a large window overlooking the street. He walked over to the window and sat in front of it, enjoying the moment's peace. It wasn't long before the door cracked open, removing Harry from his pensive state. Thinking it was one of his friends coming to see if he was okay, Harry turned around to tell them to go away, but the person he found there wasn't Ron or Hermione, it wasn't even a member of the order. It was Draco Malfoy.


	3. Chapter 3: Fights

Harry was on his feet in an instant. Wand drawn. His aim true. "Malfoy," he spat, looking at the blond boy with an expression of pure hatred. "What are _you_ doing here?"

Draco had drawn his own wand at the same time as Harry, and was returning the other boys glare with equal disdain. "That, Potter, is none of your business. Why are you up here all alone? I would have thought that weasel and mudblood would be all over you by now. Them and your mutt of a godfather. Either that or you would be downstairs making demands. You do so love your ill-deserved fame."

"Oh, some big words there Malfoy. Maybe if your broom was as fast as your mouth then you'd have a chance against me in quidditch. As it is-"

"Shut up, Potter," Draco warned, his hand unconsciously tightening around his wand.

"What are you going to do Malfoy? Tell daddy on me?"

"No, but I'll hex you into next week if you don't watch your mouth. You filthy half-blood. I think it's high time you had a lesson on how to treat your superiors."

"Well,_ I_ happen to think it's high time that you had a serious reality check."

"Well, good luck with that. The blood traitor and the mudblood aren't here to back you up now."

That was when the chaos began. Harry lunged at Draco, wand forgotten, and sent them tumbling to the floor. It was a mixture of shouts, screams, hits, kicks, punches. Both boys were giving as good as they got. That was at least, until half the order came tumbling into the room, wands drawn and prepared to attack. When they saw the two boys on the floor, engaged in a juvenile fist fight, they started screaming at them to stop.

But they didn't stop. At least not until Sirius and Snape came forward, pulling them apart.

Harry struggled against Sirius's hold, just as Draco did against Snape's, both wanting to pick up exactly where they left off.

"That is enough, both of you!" Mrs Weasley screeched, coming to stand in-between the two boys. "You are supposed to be young men, not a couple of animals! This stops right now, do you understand!"

"But he started it," Draco cried.

"Well, I'm finishing it," retorted Mrs Weasley, her voice holding no argument. "Now, get to the kitchen this instant! I'm not having either you walking around covered in blood and bruises!" And with that, the plump little woman bustled out of the room, everyone else close behind her.

As soon as they arrived in the kitchen, Draco and Harry were pushed into chairs. Mrs Weasley came forward, brandishing a pot of antiseptic cream, and began to dab it onto their cuts and bruises. The cream stung when it was put onto an open wound. When Draco let out a hiss of pain, Mrs Weasley sharply said, "Well you should have thought about what you were doing before you started brawling!"

x-x-x-x-x-x

Dinner was a quiet affair. Draco and Harry spent most of their time shooting each other murderous glares across the table, Mrs Weasley kept trying to give Harry extra helpings, while mumbling about him being too skinny and Ron and Hermione kept shooting apologetic smiles their friend, seemingly worried about Harry's earlier outburst.

At the end of dinner, Draco excused himself, retreating upstairs. As soon as he was gone, Harry turned to Sirius and asked, "What exactly is he doing here?"

"Dumbledore put him here. Said he needed to be somewhere safe, away from death eaters."

"But why?"

"He's a defected death eater, and no one leaves Voldemort. Once you're in, you're in for life," Sirius explained.

"And Dumbledore thought it wise to place him _here!_ Where all of the order meetings are held!"

"I assure you Harry dear, Draco is on our side," Mrs Weasley said, attempting to reassure the boy she saw as a son.

"Yeah, well I don't trust him."

x-x-x-x-x-x

That night, Harry made up with Ron and Hermione, their argument forgotten, before he headed up to bed.

That night, Harry once again dreamt of Voldemort.


End file.
